A quick note in praise of Sonos

Let me start by saying I'm old enough to remember a time before internet, CDs, cassette tapes, or even the MOSFET transistor. In other words, I'm a dinosaur who cut his teeth in vinyl. So I remember a simpler age when the product that came out of the box was all you got. No software issues. Few compatibility issues to complain about. Generally, an AC plug and some RCA and speaker cables were all that was involved. I'm also fortunate enough to have collected some very good hifi equipment over the years including high end stuff from B&W, Krell and McIntosh. Sadly, that equipment sits largely idle today because over the years the pace of my life has become too hectic. I'm just not where my music is often enough to truly enjoy it. So, after overcoming my visceral resistance to streaming music systems, I bought some Sonos equipment over the weekend to create a streaming home network. After a weekend of trial and error, learning how to use a wifi analyzer, reading up on dedicated channels, suffering through router incompatibility issues, and finally some truly excellent tech support from James in Sonos customer support this morning, I got four rooms running properly on Sonosnet -- no small feat in my high-rise building packed with competing wifi systems. So, how good is Sonos? Well, I am gobsmacked. Play:5s are not studio monitors, but paired for stereo, they are quite good. And the pure joy they deliver wherever I am, as I walk from room to room, along with the ease of use of the Sonos user interface more than makes up for the loss in high fidelity. And I now have a virtually unlimited collection of music at my finger tip for a few dollars a month. As a younger man building a record collection, this was simply unimaginable.

No sound system is ever perfect. But Sonos is damn good - a generation ago, unimaginably good. Thank you Sonos. Keep up the good work. Cheers.